Why Indoor Soccer is the Beautiful Game at Its Best

Soccer was an outcast sport, but the scene was familiar: an old arena with sticky floors; hot dogs and greasy pizza slices at the concession stands; professional hockey and basketball banners hanging from the rafters; kids and families everywhere. The music thumped and the arena darkened as the players emerged with spotlights shining on them. It seemed so strange that we were all there cheering for soccer — or, at least, a version of it. This game was startlingly fast, with flashy feints and no-look passes performed on a smaller, artificial green field. The sometimes inscrutable, often low-scoring game of soccer was now practically on a tabletop, distilled to its most extravagant elements in front of American kids like me, high on the sugar rush of candy and soda.